Why do people claim “hip hop is dead”?

[Majestic]

Compare the out put of 90s/early 2000s to now and that's your answer.

 

[DJ Paul's Arm]

I'm not sure if they still throw shyt like Mighty 4 or similar events but I miss hittin up those hip hop shows up in the city. They would be in some hole in the wall warehouse where 3 on 3 b-boy battles, DJ battles and rap battles would go down at the same time. Also had artists doing live graffiti during the battles. Everyone having a good time. No funk, no guns just weed.

 

[NotaPAWG]

Because hip-hop is no longer a tool to uplift, motivate, inspire, and REVOLUTIONALIZE the black masses.

That tool has been equalized and is now being used AGAINST black people:



Like others have already said, atleast there was a balance. That balance has dramatically shifted for the worse now.

You got rappers who make songs titled "My Choppa Hates Nikkaz" being given the biggest platforms to influence now.

Hip-hop is now the #1 tool being used to help destroy the psyche and also the image/reputation of blacks worldwide. This is why the mainstream is so important. Hip-hop is the #1 lens through which the world views black people. What's put out via mainstream is extremely important since "media propaganda" is one of the most effective tactics of systemic oppression:




If you're reading this post and you're not black, the words I type may not register with you since hip-hop is not being used to demonize your specific group of people.


Peace

even though you can be repetitive with the posts i still enjoy reading them.

what was the last revolutionary hip hop album you enjoyed? last one i can think of that came out after the 90s was probably Dead Prez’s ‘Let’s Get Free’



the reach this album had while being completely independent was pretty awesome

 

[NotaPAWG]

I'm not sure if they still throw shyt like Mighty 4 or similar events but I miss hittin up those hip hop shows up in the city. They would be in some hole in the wall warehouse where 3 on 3 b-boy battles, DJ battles and rap battles would go down at the same time. Also had artists doing live graffiti during the battles. Everyone having a good time. No funk, no guns just weed.

you live in Cali? they prob do, i live in some no name city in Mass and there’s always battles going on, so i’m sure there still is in bigger places

 

[BmoreGorilla]

Hip hop is more than the music. 4 elements, remember?

When speaking of hip hop being dead, I think of the culture that birthed the music and not just the music. The respect for elders and the roots, pushing to enchance the craft with beats and emceeing, etc.

There are things we grew up with that just upped and died, so the art looks different entirely. Now the music was always diverse, catering to different tastes, but the mainstream influence has long since trickled to the underground.

Me and my homeboy were just talking about this recently. Who DJs anymore? That’s really the backbone of the whole culture. The live show isn’t what it used to be. There was a point in time where that was critical to success. I remember as kids we used to beatbox all the time and make beats on the cafeteria tables

Imagine trying to beatbox trap beats

 

[thekingsmen]

 

[PhonZhi]

even though you can be repetitive with the posts i still enjoy reading them.

what was the last revolutionary hip hop album you enjoyed? last one i can think of that came out after the 90s was probably Dead Prez’s ‘Let’s Get Free’



the reach this album had while being completely independent was pretty awesome

Album: The Blue Klux Klan - Wise Intelligent

 

[Razor Reader]

Facts and Im a Hiphop Purist but I continue to listen to new indy artists

Do they still exist ?

 

[thekingsmen]

 

[thekingsmen]

Do they still exist ?

Not anymore....

 

[Oceanicpuppy]

I don’t really care if hip hop is dead or not.

Only thing I care about is if the youth are creatively respecting the art of music.

It’s seems like people don’t want to make music for music sake and for the people to enjoy. They just want a hit and some money and Not to make people feel good, which is what music supposed to do.

They just want be famous and make money. It’s ok to want to make money and be famous but if that’s your only reason then why are you even making music?

Hip hop like many genres will come and go. Its spirit will live on in its babies just like the genres before it.

 

[BaltimoreTwilightMarauder]

Hip Hop is only a culture when it's counter culture. Hip hop has been accepted and as it's been accepted the quality has gone down. It's gonna keep getting more basic until it becomes latino rap.

 

[Hungerpain]

Maybe because it is?

 

[Geek Nasty]

Facts and Im a Hiphop Purist but I continue to listen to new indy artists

Yeah, but that's like saying Latin's not a dead language because lots of Catholic priests still speak it. Most of the big name acts that fans are supporting are trash. How you fix that I don't know, but not to shyt on everybody in the past 15 years but I think the last rap CD I bought was The Fix. Plenty of good music since then, but the industry looks like Young Thug and the Migos.

 

[Oceanicpuppy]

because majority of mainstream rap lacks what they think is skill, knowledge, creativity, etc?

once RAP music became mainstream, it no longer was sub and counter culture.

hip hop was and is a subculture that was a biproduct and form of protest in defiance of the mainstream and “norm”. it inherently was never supposed to be THE mainstream because it was a protest, ironically a protest of the very thing many hip hop heads use as a measuring stick to define weather it is alive or not

every single city, at least ones with a black community or residents that are making hip hop music, involved in bringing people together every week, wether it’s a huge venue or a basement with no name rappers etc are making hip hop and involved in its subculture, it doesn’t matter if we haven’t heard of them. they are.

hip hop shouldn’t be a reflection of mainstream culture, it should be a reflection of the local towns and communities that are making it because that’s where and how it started

so why is it that so called hip hop purists keep using the mainstream to define its aliveness by referring to the mainstream when hip hop was inherently a byproduct of protest and in defiance of the mainstream?

places like NY right now, LA and Atlanta they have thriving SUBCULTURES of rappers most of us probably don’t even exist, but they do. and the people involved in those said local communities know and involved do. hip hop was a movement of local communities bridging together. it had very little to do with the mainstream until labels and money got involved.

What do you think about this?

It’s fits perfectly into what you just said but also presents some issues as well.